HARTFORD, Conn. — XL Center had turned into Patrick Gym South, big enough to fit nearly half of Burlington, Vt., inside the arena. And it appeared that a good number of those fans had indeed made the trek down from Vermont to pull for the upset, quickly joined by anyone not wearing Florida State apparel in the building.
For about 30 minutes, they had their way. The No. 13 Catamounts were hitting their 3s, neutralizing the Seminoles’ major size advantage and staying oblivious to the big stage as they dreamt of the school’s first March stunner since knocking off Syracuse in 2005.
But Florida State wouldn’t play the role. The Seminoles kept coming, their physicality born from an ACC gauntlet of a schedule showing through. And when Mfiondu Kabengele rose up through a crowd of defenders for an emphatic two-handed slam to open up an eight-point lead with just under four minutes left, Vermont’s hopes came crashing down with the ball.
Most of the crowd lamented it, but fourth-seeded Florida State hung on to beat Vermont, 76-69, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region on Thursday afternoon.
“We’re a deep team. We come in levels, we come in waves,” the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Kabengele said. “For us to be physical through the whole 40 minutes, I felt like as the game went on, they wore down little by little. The first half they were energized, they were ready to go, they were ready for everything. That’s why I felt like it was a bit stagnant. But it opened up because of our physical play.”
Kabengele led the way, finishing with 21 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Terance Mann added 19 points and eight rebounds as the Seminoles advanced to play the winner of Murray State and Marquette.
After the Catamounts went into halftime with a 20-18 rebounding edge — and the game tied 27-27, after leading by as many as nine — Florida State outmuscled them in the final 20 minutes for a 21-13 advantage on the glass, even without senior forward Phil Cofer, who sat out with a boot on his right foot.
“This game felt more like an ACC game than any game we’ve played outside of our conference,” Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Nip and tuck.”
Vermont drained 7-of-12 3-pointers in the first half and finished 16-of-32 — an essential ingredient for any March upset. But the turnovers piled up in the second half (16 overall), and soon the Catamounts’ lead was gone for good.
“It sucks that we had the whole crowd there, and we felt like this was our game to win. We felt like we were the tougher team, the better team, for most of that game until the very end,” said senior guard Ernie Duncan, who made history with his brothers Everett and Robin when they became the first trio of brothers to share the court in an NCAA Tournament game. “Running out on the court, it felt like I was in Patrick almost.”
Florida State, though, had other plans in mind. A year removed from making the Elite Eight as a No. 9 seed, the Seminoles hope they’re just getting started again.
“My job is to inspire our new guys, inspire everyone to get going,” Kabengele said. “For me to make that [dunk], I felt like we did that. From that point on, we held that lead and expanded it from there.”
